The Golden Age of Light Music: Confetti
Full track listing at end of review
Stereo: tracks 2-6, 8, 10-13, 15, 16: rest in mono. ADD
Dates refer to recording, not composition.
GUILD LIGHT MUSIC GLCD5175 [78:04]
The liner-notes give a very good description of what this CD is all about:
it is worth quoting: ‘The word ‘confetti’ describes small pieces of paper,
of various shapes and colours, often thrown by guests at weddings. In musical
terms it can equally apply to an assortment of pieces in different styles,
conveying a variety of moods and emotions. In other words, almost a haphazard
collection of tunes with no particular theme, except perhaps that they are
all a little different.’
One of the delights of the Golden Age of Light Music series is the
fact that the compilers have endeavoured to ‘theme’ each successive release.
Inevitably, they came across many pieces of music that did not quite ‘fit’
with the chosen topics. Yet it would have been a pity to have ignored these
numbers, so Confetti, like Kaleidoscope before it, aims to ‘sweep
up’ some of these ‘lost’ works. It is a job well done.
This is not music that needs to be analysed: its raison d’être is simply to
be enjoyed. However there is an interesting balance between composers who
are well-known to the average listener and those that are only celebrated
by the light music specialist or enthusiast. One surprise is Market Day
by Wilfred Josephs, a composer who is perhaps better known for his concert,
film and television scores. Yet this jolly piece from the late fifties, is
both enjoyable and well-wrought: it certainly succeeds in providing a good
mental image of its subject.
Other big names include Robert Farnon’s imaginative Manhattan Playboy
– who would not like to be associated with this glamorous character? Frederic
Curzon’s Mischief is exactly that: a little piece that is slightly
naughty but not wicked.
How does one listen to this CD? I guess that it is like a finger buffet: a
little nibble here and there. It would be a pity to just through-play this
disc with no reference to the track listing. Some of the joys of light music
are the titles and the moods that they can evoke in an imaginative mind. Who
will not be impressed by romantic notions such as Violins in Velvet,
Musik Klingt Durch Die Nacht (Music sounds through the night) and Confetti?
Or there are the topographical images of Via Amalfi, Utopia
Road, Champs Elysées Café with romantic tune accordion and car
horns, and the previously mentioned Market Day? Then there are the
novelty numbers such as Who Killed Cock Robin? Bees a Buzzin’,
Bluebell Polka and Treble Chance. And finally Joey’s Song
pushes gently towards a soft Rock and Roll complete with electric guitar.
And then the musicals are not ignored on this CD: Rodgers and Hammerstein
contribute Getting to Know You, Cole Porter is represented with I
Concentrate on You and the music for the show Dear Miss Phoebe
is by Harry Parr-Davies.
A number of delightful dance numbers include Camerata’s Pizzicato Rumba,
Joseph Kuhn’s Montevideo Bolero and F. Stanley’s Bluebell Polka.
There are many other pieces that make up this smorgasbord of delights
Yet it is the overall ambience of virtually all of this music that will appeal
to most listeners. It is a subtle balance between well-crafted music, a feeling
of lost innocence, a mood of joyfulness and happiness and an appeal to the
imagination that characterises this music. On all these accounts this is a
highly successful and enjoyable disc.
John France
A subtle balance of well-crafted music, lost innocence, joyfulness and happiness and imagination.
Full track listing:
Bronislau KAPER Confetti (1958) [2:18] MGM Studio Orchestra
Conducted by Johnny Green.
Joseph KUHN Champs Elysées Café (1957) [3:31] Paris Theatre
Orchestra
Robert FARNON Manhattan Playboy (1959) [2:30] Leslie Jones and
his Orchestra of London
Grigori DINICU; Jascha HEIFETZ, arr. Morton GOULD Hora Staccato
(1958) [3:11] Morton Gould and his Orchestra
HARTEL; WOLTMANN Musik Klingt Durch Die Nacht (1959) [3:05]
Hans Georg Arlt and his orchestra
Jimmy MCHUGH; Al DUBIN, arr. Robert FARNON In My Memoirs
(1958) [2:21] Robert Farnon and his orchestra (LP label credits ‘Jack Saunders
Orchestra’)
Francis LOPEZ, arr. Percy FAITH Lina (1954) [2:49] Percy
Faith and his Orchestra with Mitch Miller, oboe and cor anglais
Cole PORTER arr. Conrad SALINGER I Concentrate On
You (1958) [2:42] (from “Broadway Melody of 1940”), Conrad Salinger Orchestra
Conducted by Buddy Bregman
Salvatore ‘Tutti’ CAMARATA Pizzicato Rhumba (1952) [3:21]
Music by Camarata
Guido VIEZZOLI Nota Per Nota (1957) [2:58] George Melachrino
conducting the Orchestra of the 6th San Remo Festival
Joseph KUHN Via Amalfi (1959) [3:04] Roberto Rossani and his
Orchestra
Richard RODGERS; Oscar HAMMERSTEIN, arr. William Hill BOWEN
Getting To Know You from “The King And I” (1958) [2:45] William Hill
Bowen and his Orchestra
Joseph KUHN Montevideo Bolero (1959) [2:41] Dolores Ventura,
Piano and the Carnival Orchestra
F. STANLEY, arr. Ron GOODWIN Bluebell Polka (1955) [2:21]
Ron Goodwin and his Concert Orchestra
Joe REISMAN Joey’s Song (1957) [2:11] Joe Reisman and his Orchestra
Joseph J. LEAHY; Abe OLMAN Twice Around the Island (1957) [2:02]
David Carroll and his Orchestra
Edrich SIEBERT Bees-A-Buzzin’ (1953) [2:10] Dolf Van Der Linden
and his Orchestra
Frederic CURZON Mischief (1946) [2:20] New Century Orchestra
conducted by Sidney Torch
Cyril WATTERS Gadabout (1954) [2:18] Dolf Van Der Linden and
his Orchestra
Dolf Van Der LINDEN Utopia Road (1954) [2:25] Dolf Van Der Linden
and his Orchestra (‘Paul Franklin’ on disc label)
Leslie BEGUELEY Violins In Velvet (1949) [3:00] Bosworth String
Orchestra conducted by Louis Voss
Wilfred JOSEPHS Market Day (1958) [2:55] New Concert Orchestra
Conducted by Cedric Dumont
Peter DENNIS Treble Chance (1954) [2:48] Dolf Van Der Linden
and his Orchestra (‘Paul Franklin’ on disc label)
George FRENCH Parade Of the Champions (1954) [3:02] Dolf Van
Der Linden and his Metropole Orchestra
L. E. DE FRANCESCO Florella (1959) [1:48] Grosvenor Studio Orchestrra
Trad, arr. Paul FENOULHET Who Killed Cock Robin? (1958)
[3:15] Stuttgart Radio Orchestra Conducted by Kurt Rehfeld (‘Crawford Light
Orchestra’ on disc label)
Harry PARR-DAVIES Dear Miss Phoebe– Selection (1951) [6:50]
‘Whisper While You Waltz’, ‘Spring Will Sing A Song For You’, ‘Living A Dream’,
‘March Of The Red Coats’, ‘I Can’t Resist The Music,’ ‘All’s Well Tonight’,
‘When Will You Marry Me’, ‘I Leave My Heart In An English Garden.’ Tom Jenkins
and his Palm Court Orchestra